The present invention relates to the manufacture of cushioned products wherein a foam core is covered with a fabric or other suitable material.
The traditional method of manufacturing an office chair seat, back, or armrest is first to mold a foam core, and second to manually apply a fabric or other suitable material over the core. The fabric is wrapped around the core, and the peripheral margin of the fabric is stapled to the underside of the core. This manufacturing process is labor intensive and produces a product that sometimes is of less than acceptable quality. In addition, the incorporation of staples into an otherwise plastic product makes the product non-recyclable.
Another process for manufacturing cushioned products involves first injection or blow-molding a PVC skin, and second back-molding the skin with a moldable foam. An injection molded PVC skin, however, has aesthetic and environmental limitations. This process has not been used successfully for cushions having fabric or other non-injection molded covers.
Yet another process for manufacturing cushioned products is illustrated in U.S. application Ser. No. 10/871,435, filed Jun. 18, 2004, entitled “Method for Making Cushioned Products with an Integral Cover” (published on Jan. 20, 2005 as Publication No. 2005/0012234). In that process, first the cover is manufactured as a semi-rigid shell, and second a foam core is injection molded into the shell. While an advance over the prior art, the search continues for processes that require less time and labor.